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Reader, **TOMORROW @ 11AM PST/2PM EST** Kary Oberbrunner is the most knowledgeable person I know on protecting your IP, intellectual property, as we head into 2026. He even presented on IP protection to the USPTO on a special panel which was later presented to Congress in a 2024 report. I’m grateful to have Kary joining our ShelfLife community tomorrow morning for a free session on making sure your IP is protected as an author. Just reply to this email to reserve your free ticket. I learned…

Reader, 1,000,000+ copies of Longitude have been sold. Yes….a book about those horizontal lines on the globe. I wanted to know how and why. Dava Sobel joined me on Before The Bestseller over the last two weeks which also inspires today’s 321. I rarely know what the gravy of a conversation will end up being and these ones were no exception. talking to Dava it became clear how important it is to chose the right publisher, should you chose to go that route. I provide today’s 321 to give you an…

Reader, Do you read non-fiction? Between Before The Bestseller (where I interview some of the top authors in the world),my work at ShelfLife (where we directly work with some of the top authors in the world), and my own thirst for interesting stories and perspective, I pretty easily get through a book a week. SO I’ve launched a 321 for fellow big-time readers! Each week, I’ll be sharing what I’m currently reading, along with my honest, uncensored, personal lens of a bogan-Australian whose…

Reader, I missed you last week… let’s just say I’d highly recommend a flu shot if you haven’t gotten one yet! Today’s 321 is inspired by a little marketing book that recently came across my desk by the former CMO of Gong. Udi Ledergor was partly responsible in his role for taking a small startup and turning it into to a multi-billion-dollar company in under 10 years. I love looking outside of Book marketing to find new book marketing ideas because as soon as a good idea is introduced to the…

Reader, Curious how to protect your intellectual property in this new AI web scrapping world? Kary Oberbrunner just launched Instant IP. Instant IPᴵᴾ is the patented blockchain-based solution for Intellectual Property protection. It’s much faster, easier, and cheaper than traditional means. You can protect your creativity without needing to apply for a copyright or patent. Since I hear from a lot of authors about their fears around AI stealing their words, I decided to invite Kary to come in…

Reader, PLEASE NOTE THAT ON OCTOBER 8TH, OUR NEWSLETTER WILL BEGIN TO COME FROM alex@getshelflife.com (INSTEAD OF alex@advancedamazonads.com):) 3 Secrets: 1. A little Goodreads chatGPT hack We’ve been hard at work curating custom book lists on Goodreads by genre (think: “Top Business Books for Founders,” “Smart Exit Strategies for Entrepreneurs,” etc.). We’re using our team’s internal Goodreads accounts to place our authors’ books next to big-name bestsellers.Why? Because platforms like…

Reader, PLEASE NOTE THAT ON OCTOBER 8TH, OUR NEWSLETTER WILL BEGIN TO COME FROM alex@getshelflife.com (INSTEAD OF alex@advancedamazonads.com):) 3 Secrets: 1. What is an AI Agent in simplest terms and how is it relevant to authors? AI Agent building platforms are the creation of an assembly line that takes in raw materials, combines it with some decisions that your AI model of choice (think asking chatGPT a question) makes, and then spits out some sort of final product. Think of when Henry…

Reader, Back home in Virginia this week hanging out with the family 🙂 3 Secrets: 1. Medication disguised as candy: Mark Manson was a miserable low-level finance bro in Boston. And then he was dumped. So he dived headfirst into the world of pickup artistry. After “mastering” the art he started getting asked by men to join him at the bar. That quickly turned into a profession as a dating coach. He quit his job as a finance bro and became more or less a parent to guys who needed a good shower….

Reader, Having sold a million copies, author Mike Michalowicz writes in Get Different that we have a responsibility to market. “If you’ve created something better than what’s out there, you’re actually doing a disservice to people by not marketing it.” The fear of being selfish holds back a surprising amount of would-be bestselling authors. The next time you’re unsure whether to send your pitch, hand your book to someone, or reach out to influencers – think about the people who will have to…

Reader,A little story to kick of the 321 today.Ask for a book recommendation from anyone in business and they’ll give you How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. No wonder it’s sold over 30 MILLION copies. Dale Carnegie was born into poverty in 1888 on a farm in rural Missouri. During his primary years of education he developed a love for public speaking. After school he went on to become one of the leading sales people for Armour & Company selling bacon, soap, and lard. He…

Reader,Let’s chat about book pricing: 3 Secrets: 1. KDP Select Promos For those who have self-published titles in Kindle Unlimited (KDP Select), you have the ability to discount the price of your book for 7 days every 90 days. If your book isn’t selling more than 10-20 copies each month, you’re shooting yourself in the foot by not utilizing it. You can sign up for it here: https://kdp.amazon.com/marketing/manager 2. What to price your book? When it comes to book pricing over the long run,…

Reader,”I’m not even supposed to talk about this but I don’t care””I’m really not supposed to talk about this, what the hell” 2 lines pulled from my recent interview with Tom about the writing of his book and the publishing company that almost ended it.and so for this week, I want to focus on a very different type of author than I usually do….NYT bestselling author Tom O’Neill we talked about his book that started as an attempt to write an anniversary article in the late 90’s and turned…